


bastard in mind, bastard in valor

by myriddin



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: F/M, Future Fic, Kid Fic, Secret Identity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-02
Updated: 2016-04-02
Packaged: 2018-05-30 17:36:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6433870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myriddin/pseuds/myriddin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ficlet from the Valar-morekinks meme. Prompt from Anon: Alayne/Edric, bastards, They are not married and have a girl who asks one day why everyone calls her a bastard.</p><p>Edric Storm has found a home with Alayne Stone, the Lady Regent of the Vale, as her lover and father of her children. But with their firstborn old enough to understand the meaning of 'bastard', things are bound to change.</p>
            </blockquote>





	bastard in mind, bastard in valor

Being raised as he was, acknowledged son of a king raised at said king's ancestral seat, noble parents on both sides, a boy was bound to get lofty ideas about himself, bastard-born or not. Those ideas had come crashing down around him the moment his own blood wanted to sentence him to the flames, when coin ran out in Lys and he went more hungry than not until Cousin Andrew found them a ship where they would work off their passage and earn their supper- a steadier way of life than they had known in months.  
  
Getting off at Gulltown turned out to be the best decision he ever made.  
  
It was still a bit of a mystery even to himself how he went from royal bastard, to shiphand, to household knight and lover to the Lady Regent of the Vale. Aye, he shared the Lady's attention with the Lords Protectorate, Robert the boy-lord, perhaps even her late husband's ghost, but he was the only one to share Alayne Hardyng's bed. And his devotion became absolute the moment she placed a daughter of his own in his arms.  
  
Lovely Jeyne, with hair as black as coal and eyes as blue and deep as a river, thankfully spared the ears of his Florent blood. Her sister was graced with the same, thought boisterous little Cate was the storm to her sister's calm.  
  
They were all sitting together in the lord's solar, Alayne with her needlework and Edric playing in front of the fire with Jeyne and Cate. Cate toddled over to sit in his lap as he moved his knight and horse to escort Jeyne's doll to the important feast when Jeyne looked up at him with her mother's eyes, unusually solemn for such a happy child.  
  
"Papa?"  
  
"Aye, little lamb?" He handed Cate a rattle when she grabbed for the iron stag brooch Alayne had gifted him with on his last nameday (Ironhart, his fellow knights were starting to call him, at first mockingly and later with genuine respect), tilting his head to give Jeyne his full attention.  
  
"What does 'bastard' mean?"  
  
Edric stilled immediately, his eyes locking with Alayne's as he watched her face grow impassive as stone, carefully setting her needlework aside before she gracefully knelt down beside her daughter. Reaching out to smooth back a few flyaway locks from Jeyne's face, she gently questioned. "Sweetling, where did you hear that word?"  
  
"When I was playing hide-the-treasure with Mya and Catie. Mya ran into Ser Gyles when we went around the corner and he yelled at her. He said bastards should watch their step around their betters...Mya said not to talk that way around ladies and Ser Gyles said none of us were ladies...that bastards could never be ladies. Mama, what does that mean?"  
  
Alayne sighed softly, moving back to her chair and patting her lap to invite Jeyne to join her. Their daughter eagerly did so.  
  
Later that night, after putting the girls to bed, Edric found himself brooding once more beside the hearth, starting troubled into the flames. Alayne sidled up to nestle against his side, resting her cheek against his arm. "What are you contemplating so deeply?"  
  
"Are you certain its wise to not to warn her how despised bastards are by the Faith? I don't want to give her false hopes about our positions."  
  
"She's only five, Edric. It's enough for now to know why she's different, not why people might hate just for how she was born."  
  
He sighed in agreement, leaning down to kiss her brow. Her nose wrinkled as the bristly hairs of his beard prickled her skin, not yet fully grown in as he had yet to see his twentieth nameday.  
  
"My love, there's something we need to discuss."  
  
His brow furrowed with concern. "Are you well?"  
  
"I'm fine. But now that winter's passed, and Robert's nearly strong enough to foster with Lord Royce, it's time for things to change." She took his hand and placed it against her middle, the light curve there familiar enough that his eyes widened and a smile played across his lips, despite his confusion. "Do you feel how I'm carrying high? That's your son growing inside me, darling. A son I want to bear a name my ancestors would be proud of...Eddard, or Brandon...a Northern name for a son of the North. I want the girls to know where they come from, to know their blood."  
  
"Ed, my name isn't Alayne. It's Sansa. Sansa Stark. And I want you to take me home."


End file.
